1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to step devices and more particularly to that class of apparatus adapted to be holdably positioned within an enclosure and disposed in a use position adjacent said enclosure having at least a portion thereof supported by a portion of the floor adjacent the enclosure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art abounds with foldable, collapsible, horizontal supporting surfaces of a wide variety. U.S. Pat. No. 2,625,984 issued Jan. 20, 1953 to E. W. Schweickert teaches a seat member and a foot stool member, both angularly disposed and fixedly secured to a elongated plate, the lowermost end of the plate is pivotably secured to an exterior surface of a bar or counter such that when the seat portion thereof is disposed outwardly from the bar the apparatus may be utilized in a cantilever fashion having the bar of counter providing total support for the apparatus. Though the Schweickert teaching permits a seat and foot rest portion to be sensibly concealed within the bar or counter when not in a use condition, the apparatus requires extremely sturdy mounting devices because of the cantilever type construction in which the seat portion is disposed at the end of a long fulcrum arm, thereby producing substantial forces on the bar or counter apparatus supporting same.
U.S. Pat. 970,777 issued Sept. 20, 1910 to M. Ackerman discloses a folding seat having a seat portion pivotably secured to a vertical surface adjacent a marginal edge thereof. The other marginal edge carries a bar extending transverse to the aforementioned adjacent marginal edge to which one end of an arm is slideably affixed, the other end of the arm is pivotably supported by the vertical wall. Thus, the seat may be disposed upwardly and inwardly towards the vertical surface whereby the gliding portion on the outermost end of the arm descends downwardly towards the pivoting marginal edge of the seat, causing the surface of the seat to reside substantially parallel to the vertical surface. The Ackerman apparatus, though utilizing a supporting arm when the seat is disposed in a horizontal position, exerts a substantial force on the vertical surface due to the fact that such vertical surface not only provides vertical support for the seat and a weight rested thereon but due to torsional forces exerted on the uppermost regions of the vertical surface, adjacent the pivoting marginal edge of the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,860,690 issued Nov. 18, 1958 to S. N. Small discloses a vertical rod mounted in a pair of sockets disposed secured to a vertical surface, such as the front of a bar or other tablelike apparatus. The rod carries a pair of arms pivotably secured thereto having at the free ends thereof another rod, also pivotably secured to the bars. A seat apparatus is pivoted to the uppermost end of the outwardly extending rod, whose lowermost end is permitted to reside on a portion of the surface of the floor adjacent the vertical structure supporting the apparatus. When it is desired to store the Small apparatus, the outwardly extending rod is pivoted adjacent the vertical surface and the seat portion is pivoted relative to the outwardly extending swingable rod. Though Small does not depend on cantilever forces or other high torsional forces exerted on the surface supporting same, due to the ground resting end of the outwardly extending rod, Small suffers the deficiency of having the swinging seat always disposed outwardly from the vertical surface supporting same. Thus, the Small apparatus is always in view and always requires a series of complex manual manipulation to simply dispose the apparatus into a stored position.